China, EU to hold talks on trade disputes

The Ministry of Commerce (MOC) said Sunday that it will start negotiating with its EU counterparts in Brussels next week regarding recent trade frictions. Vice Minister of Commerce Zhong Shan and Jean-Luc Demarty, the European Commission's director-general for trade, will co-chair talks on China-EU trade and investment on May 27, according to a statement from the MOC. Zhong will also discuss issues related to solar panels and wireless telecoms equipment with EU Trade Commissioner Karel De Gucht. The EU recently launched several trade remedy probes targeting Chinese goods. The EU backed a proposal in early May to impose punitive import duties on solar panels from China in order to prevent the dumping of Chinese panel products in the European market. Last week, it proposed opening an anti-dumping and anti-subsidy investigation into mobile telecommunications equipment imported from China, a move that is believed to be aimed at Huawei and ZTE, China's two biggest telecoms system and equipment producers. The EU's proposed levying of punitive duties on Chinese solar panels would severely impair bilateral trade ties, Ministry of Commerce spokesman Shen Danyang warned on May 16, adding that "China's preference to use dialogue and negotiations to resolve the frictions has not changed."